Lantana school preps future teachers

Lantana Community Middle School is attempting to help prepare students for careers in child development.

It is one of the first schools in Florida to have the pilot program for the Pre-Teacher Education Career Academy.

Ian Adair, the school's program coordinator, said 61 students from sixth, seventh and eighth grades are enrolled in the program that teaches students how a child develops and what careers are available in the field.

The program complements a similar high school program.

"The idea is to get the student interested in any career in teaching, child development, day care and others," Adair said.

He said it can help students who graduate high school and don't attend college get a job in day care. It can also help students going to college to focus on what type of child development they want to study.

Students study with state-of-the-art equipment, including lifelike dolls that teach them about fetal alcohol syndrome and what a mother's drug use can do to the baby.

Eighth-grader Heather Baptiste said she has been interested in children since she was 5.

"I have always wanted to be around children," she said. "I used to ask if I could change diapers."

Baptiste is living with her niece, Ja'liyah, an infant, and she said the program has helped her learn when and why her niece cries.

"It means she either wants food, to be changed or just needs attention," the 13-year-old said. "I want to be a doctor one day and maybe a pediatrician. This program helps me make that choice."

Krystal Jimenez, an eighth-grader in the program, wants to be a teacher.

"I joined the program because I wanted to learn what opportunities there were in this field," she said. "I just like kids and like being around them."

Adair said the students go in-depth on brain development and physical development of infants and children through the program. A room is set up to teach students about infant toys and games.

In addition to classwork, the students have done off-campus work. By dressing up as superheroes and collecting money during lunch, the academy raised more than $200 to purchase toys for Kids in Distress, a nonprofit organization based in Fort Lauderdale.

The academy also participated in a holiday letter-writing campaign and a toys/clothes drive for a needy family in partnership with Transplant Buddies and Donate Life Endeavors, a charitable group that works with families who are undergoing or waiting for organ transplants.